Royals Didn’t Tell Edinson Volquez His Father Died Until After the Game

Edinson Volquez didn’t factor into the win-loss decision in the Royals’ 5-4 extra-innings win over Mets in game 1 of the World Series, but he’s factoring into the discussion following the game.

Prior to the game starting, the Royals gained word that Volquez’s 63-year-old father died in the Dominican Republic. At the request of Volquez’s wife, the team did not tell him until after the game.

Edinson Volquez walked off the mound in Game 1 of the World Series and into the dugout, where he came face-to-face with his manager Ned Yost. Right then and there, Yost wanted to clue Volquez in to the bad news so many other people already knew. Yost wanted to, but he couldn’t. He promised he wouldn’t.

“I almost told him when he was done, ‘You need to go call your wife,’ ” Yost said. “But I didn’t.”

When Volquez went to the clubhouse, his family was waiting for him. So was Royals general manager Dayton Moore. They went in Yost’s office and Edinson Volquez learned what Yost had promised not to tell him.

His father had died earlier in the day. Daniel Volquez, 63, succumbed to heart disease in the Dominican Republic.

The news began to spread in the U.S. as Edinson Volquez, 32, was making his warm-up pitches at Kauffman Stadium, ahead of the biggest start of his life. The Royals would eventually win, 5-4, in 14 exciting innings, to take a 1-0 lead in the series. Volquez wouldn’t factor into the decision, but he’d still be a central figure in a game that was decided hours after he finished pitching.